pill
1a small globular or rounded mass of medicinal substance, usually covered with a hard coating, that is to be swallowed whole.
something unpleasant that has to be accepted or endured: Ingratitude is a bitter pill.
Slang. a tiresomely disagreeable person.
Sports Slang. a ball, especially a baseball or golf ball.
the pill. birth-control pill.
pills, British Slang. billiards.
to dose with pills.
to form or make into pills.
Slang. to blackball.
to form into small, pill-like balls, as the fuzz on a wool sweater.: Compare depill.
Idioms about pill
Take a chill pill!Disparaging Slang. chill pill (def. 2).
Origin of pill
1Words Nearby pill
Other definitions for pill (2 of 3)
British Dialect. to peel.
Obsolete. to become or cause to become bald.
Origin of pill
2Other definitions for pill (3 of 3)
to rob, plunder, or pillage.
Origin of pill
3Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use pill in a sentence
Sometimes you swallow pills you don’t like to get things done.
TheDonald’s owner speaks out on why he finally pulled plug on hate-filled site | Craig Timberg, Drew Harwell | February 5, 2021 | Washington PostBody temperature can be monitored through smart pills but also through wearables put on the skin.
As biometrics boom, who owns athletes’ data? It depends on the sport. | Nick Busca | February 2, 2021 | Washington PostHe gave her 10 pills each day, in addition to a few liquid medications.
A sick mother, a loving son, a signed Ovechkin jersey — and how the Caps tried to help | Kyle Melnick | February 1, 2021 | Washington PostThey take the pills for 15 days and log symptoms on a web-based platform.
The antidepressant fluvoxamine could keep mild COVID-19 from worsening | Esther Landhuis | February 1, 2021 | Science NewsMaybe 15 or 20 percent of lung cancers in the United States are targeted by these pills that are quite effective and not very toxic.
How to Fix the Incentives in Cancer Research (Ep. 449) | Stephen J. Dubner | January 28, 2021 | Freakonomics
For Randy, a 50-year-old ex-Mormon gay man, this cure was a particularly bitter pill to swallow.
Your Husband Is Definitely Gay: TLC’s Painful Portrait of Mormonism | Samantha Allen | January 1, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST“He gave me a blue pill, which he said was an antihistamine,” said Chelan.
Two New Bill Cosby Accusers Come Forward: ‘We Challenge Mr. Cosby to End This Nightmare’ | Marlow Stern | December 3, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTMedication can now be taken in a single pill rather than a complex cocktail of tablets.
A plastic surgeon gave her a supposedly lethal pill that also failed.
The Nurse Coaching People Through Death by Starvation | Nick Tabor | November 17, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTFor the Times, which had won four Pulitzer Prizes in 2013, the Snowden slip-up was a bitter pill to swallow.
Is The Guardian Holding Back The New York Times’ Snowden Stories? | Lloyd Grove | October 14, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHowever cleverly the pill was gilded, the Marshal knew that it was the Emperor's distrust which had lost him the command.
Napoleon's Marshals | R. P. Dunn-PattisonSome people swallow the universe like a pill; they travel on through the world, like smiling images pushed from behind.
The Pocket R.L.S. | Robert Louis StevensonThence to my office, and after several letters writ, home to supper and to bed, and took a pill.
Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete | Samuel PepysThat was a good initial effort, running down the opium pill mail-order enterprise.
Average Jones | Samuel Hopkins AdamsBut on setting down the cup his eye caught sight of the pill-box.
Stories in Light and Shadow | Bret Harte
British Dictionary definitions for pill (1 of 2)
/ (pɪl) /
a small spherical or ovoid mass of a medicinal substance, intended to be swallowed whole
the pill (sometimes capital) informal an oral contraceptive
something unpleasant that must be endured (esp in the phrase bitter pill to swallow)
slang a ball or disc
a small ball of matted fibres that forms on the surface of a fabric through rubbing
slang an unpleasant or boring person
(tr) to give pills to
(tr) to make pills of
(intr)
to form into small balls
(of a fabric) to form small balls of fibre on its surface through rubbing
(tr) slang to blackball
Origin of pill
1- See also pills
British Dictionary definitions for pill (2 of 2)
/ (pɪl) /
archaic, or dialect to peel or skin (something)
archaic to pillage or plunder (a place)
obsolete to make or become bald
Origin of pill
2Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with pill
see bitter pill to swallow; sugar the pill.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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